Steam
by Ornery Otter
Summary: It felt like he just blinked. One moment he lay dying in hospital, the next he had the sun glaring in his eyes, the sky blue and clear above him. SIOC.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't at all like how he thought it would happen.

He thought that when he died, he'd just...disappear. That there wasn't anything afterwards. Just a ceasing of his existence and awareness.

Instead it was as though he'd only blinked. One moment he was laying dying in a hospital bed, suffering and weakening, and the next he was stood upright with the sun glaring in his eyes, forcing him to squint.

It took a moment for him to understand what was going on – he was upright and moving, but not of his own action. Instead it felt as though he was wearing a harness across his chest and between his thighs, leaving his legs dangling down but his body held securely. It wasn't his legs that were moving him forward – he was attached to the chest of whoever was doing it for him.

That was confusing. His mobility was limited, but he was mostly frozen anyway as his eyes started to process what he was seeing. A worn dusty path stretched ahead of them, the sky was blue and the sun glared bright and yellow down upon him. He seemed to be wearing a hat. The body behind him was firm and tall (though that might just seem so because he seemed quite small). There were people in the street ahead, heading in the same direction as them. It looked like there was a market ahead.

He couldn't turn around far enough to see who was wearing the harness that held him, only his shoulders (which were broad and exposed by a sleeveless shirt). But whoever it was seemed to be pretty muscular and had a fairly dark tan.

As they continued down the street they reached the market place, which was filled with bright colours and voices shouting wares. It seemed a bit archaic in style, so did the outfits he could now see people were wearing actually.

His father? Walked them over to a street vendor selling fish and began a transaction with the old woman manning it. Whatever language they were speaking in it wasn't one he knew, but he only knew English and wasn't well travelled so that didn't mean much. It did mean he was at a disadvantage right now though.

Not that it mattered really, clearly he wasn't here to make a transaction after all, since he was small and attached to someone else's chest in a harness. Just along for the ride it seemed.

He didn't appreciate when the old lady handed the fish to his carrier and the man leaned forward to take it, nearly sticking his face in the fish in display in the process. It was smelly.

Grumbling his displeasure and huffing out a few breaths to try and somehow push the smell out of his nose, his discomfort seemed to earn the amusement of the saleswoman if her chuckling was any indication, and the broad chest behind him rocked him with laughter of its own.

A large hand came from the side and boofed him on the nose, and the feeling of shaking behind him increased when he tried to bite it. He missed the first time but caught it the second, triumphant. With the impression that the hand-owner had given him the hand to placate him, he nevertheless nummed upon it diligently, dismayed to find that he had perilously few teeth in his mouth at present.

By now the truth of things was starting to become clear, even though it hadn't really sunk in yet. It was pretty clear that things had changed for him, but somehow the brightness of the world in front of him kept his attention and panic just didn't set in.

Instead his eyes wandered as he was taken from stall to stall, drinking in the sights and listening to the sounds even though he couldn't understand them. A few phrases were repeated – presumably greetings and the like, so he tried to absorb what little he could.

It wasn't long before they were turning back down the way they came, walking down the dusty path with the sun at their backs this time.

Eventually the path they were on narrowed and split off in different directions into residential districts. The man at his back talked quietly as they went, presumably to him, not that he could understand. They drew close to one of the houses, nestled between two others, and the broad arms shifted the groceries onto one arm to open the door with the other.

"Tadiama!" The greeting was called out from behind him at a loud volume and he reflexively glanced back at the shoulders, only to look ahead when a distant "Okaeri!" was returned from within.

Well, that sounded like a greeting to him, so he opened his mouth to join in, but what came out was more like "Tadada" at best, and senseless mumbling at worst. His parents? Seemed to appreciate the attempt either way as the harness containing him was lifted off of broad shoulders with him still inside it, and set on the floor.

He did try and land on his feet, but as soon as any weight was put on them he simply toppled back onto him bum on the floor. Next to him, his father was removing his shoes for some kind of slippers, and moments later shoes were removed from his own feet and slippers placed on them, despite the fact that he'd not stepped a foot outside on his own the whole time.

His mother wiggled his slipper-clad feet at him, holding his toes and tickling them playfully as the harness was removed from him, revealing himself to be in a little kimono top and trousers of some sort. Very cute, lots of fabric, no wonder he had barely felt the slight chill in the air outside.

Removed from the travel gear, he suddenly found him hoisted up from behind. It was a strange sensation but smooth and practiced enough that he didn't feel unsafe. Held now in his mother's arms as his father wandered into the kitchen with their bounty, setting it on the counter for sorting. He found himself being plonked into a high chair at the table and left to himself for a moment while his parents talked and sorted out the groceries.

It was clear by now that they were definitely his parents too – they kissed each other and teased each other as they put the groceries away and there were family photos dotted around of the three of them so it was a pretty sure bet.

Kicking his feet in the high chair, it was also clear that he was a small child, with pudgy hands and stubby legs. He was in no state to do much of anything on his own.

It was a while before he learned much more about this new place he found himself. He did learn other things though, like his name was Hiseo, though he wasn't sure what his family name was yet, and he had recently had his first birthday. His father worked a lot and was often gone for a few days at a time, but more often than not he would leave early in the morning and be home for dinner the same day. His mother on the other hand stayed home with him for the most part, encouraging him to learn through play. She also spent a lot of time crafting little decorative items that he presumed were sold.

His life was simple, but as a child he didn't really have the capacity for much more anyway and it was a good life. Hiseo didn't think he was a bad child to have either – he kept tantrums to a minimum and only had a few instances where he'd struggled with being in this new place and what he'd left behind. He was a bit fussy about trying new food but once he knew it didn't taste terrible he was fine with it.

The only potential problem really was that he wasn't very social. His mother had taken him out to the park a time or two, a beautiful little space with a play area for small children and lots of flowers and the like, but despite being introduced to a few other little kids, he had a hard time...knowing what to do with them? Like, they were so little, crawling around and playing with blocks or other toys and babbling at each other. He was happy playing by himself quietly, trying to learn his words and anything else he could.

After a while his mother grew worried with how quiet he was. He had no problem paying attention or anything, he just didn't like to make sounds. He didn't like how nothing sounded right when he spoke it, whether he was trying to speak in English like he remembered, or to learn the words of the language he was being taught now. His parents worried, and eventually one day his father came back with a new determination.

He stepped into the house with a smile on his face, greeting his family like normal. The difference was the in his hands he held two items: a book, and a small set of drums.

It turned out that the solution to his near-silence was to sing. Nothing complicated, not even words, his parents would sing simple songs to him and he was encouraged to hum along at the very least. It definitely worked, and he didn't feel shy about being unable to get the words exactly right – even people fluent in English flubbed half the words to songs. After that things settled a bit and he progressed a lot better.

Thankfully both his parents had passable singing voices, his mother more than his father. Singing became something that they did through much of their time together from then on.

It was hard learning a language though. Like everyone who learned a second language, he couldn't help but start in his own language and try to translate it, so he was still thinking in English first. It did get easier once he was better at simple sentences and the like, especially without anyone to talk to in English to keep that language as the primary one.

It was also sometimes jarring when he was presented with things that were so different to what he had been used to as 'normal'. The first time he'd met a kid in the park with green hair and it'd been totally normal to everyone else, that had been odd. People's eyes too were often a strange colour, not to mention other strange physical differences. (He saw someone once who looked like their skin was made of rock, that'd been very odd.)

All in all though, everything was peaceful. Wherever it was he lived seemed to be a popular place for visitors, the weather was usually nice and the general atmosphere of the place was joyful. While he wasn't isolated and was often taken outside, he spent most of his time alone or with one of his parents.

That all changed eventually though, when he began to learn his letters in earnest, Hiseo was encouraged to venture further on his own, to interact with other children and learn more about this world he lived in.

It took a while, but he did eventually learn one key thing that he'd missed all this time. Something that had a significant impact on his perception of the world he lived in, which had previously seemed normal enough, and more to the point, relatively safe.

There were Naruto-style ninja. Hitae-ate and all, he'd seen one when his mother took him out for groceries one day, escorting a produce cart to the market.

They seemed pretty normal, a team of three young adults who stood around for a moment after the cart came to a stop, before disappearing abruptly – a flash of movement on the rooftops giving them away.

That knowledge certainly changed things, but not as much as he'd at first thought. It certainly didn't impact his day-to-day. He still got up in the mornings and ate his breakfast, went about his day trying to get his motor skills up to par, sometimes helping his mother with simple crafts for sale. Though it seemed like his father was a ninja, all aspects of that seemed to be kept from him – he never saw his father armed, never saw any other ninja coming to visit. Either his father didn't have ninja friends or just kept them away from the house, but the end result was the same.

He wondered if perhaps his parents didn't want him to be a ninja since he saw next to nothing about them and they weren't talked about, but it could just as likely be that he was too young for them to think it worth talking to him about. It wasn't like he'd be given ninja tools to play with, because for a child his age such a thing would simply be a toy, and that wasn't a safe mentality to have around weapons. He was still an oblivious, clumsy kid (mostly accurate) so dangerous things were normal to keep away from him.

Honestly, it was only when he was four years old that his parents actually sat him down to talk to him about what his daddy did, and only then that he was shown the hitae-ate up close.

It was then that he realised, eyes widening in dismay.

He wasn't in Konoha. He was in Yugakure.

He had to get out of here.

* * *

Note: So this just happened. I never really considered writing one of these but I've really enjoyed reading them lately (thank you Lang Noi, Silver Queen etc). Also I don't know much about kids so just googled stuff to figure out what age appropriate things might happen, so sorry if its way off the mark. Totally not my wheelhouse, sorry.


	2. Chapter 2

He couldn't get out of the land of hot water.

His father was a ninja and he was a small child, there was just no way. It wasn't like he could tell his parents the truth – that some creepy nin was going to stomp right through this place and slaughter everyone. He didn't even know when that was going to happen, if it was going to happen or even if it had already happened. He was here, but did that mean that the events that he knew of in Naruto were the truth, or just that the world they'd been based in existed?

Even if it was the truth, he wasn't going to be able to convince his parents to leave – his father had sworn loyalty to the village, to leave would be desertion and he'd be hunted down. If he was believed, it was more likely that they'd try and fight Hidan and lose anyway. Worse, if he was proven true, what would happen to him if it became known that he had known the future? What future would that lead him to?

He had never learned much about the land of hot water – it didn't feature much in the anime. All he knew was that it was more of a resort than a hidden village. It did explain why the town seemed laid back and the ninja at ease, unlike what you'd expect from a military dictatorship. Yugakure was considered pretty pacifist and their ninja mostly dealt with keeping the roads safe – hardly a village of assassins and spies. It was rather like what he imagined Konoha pretended to be – a 'nice' village, but they were also 'nice' enough to not take any of those not-so-nice contracts at all.

Being pacifist of course meant it barely showed up in the Naruto anime. The only history he knew of was that Hidan had fucked the place up that one time. Pacifist or not though, he didn't want to bet on them being nice enough not to kill deserters or not mine him for information if he showed he had knowledge like his though.

Of course this all assumed that he did have relevant knowledge which was no sure thing yet, and he had no easy way to prove it either. Most of what he knew was from Naruto's genin team time, and worse it was localised to Konoha. Not useful or provable at all.

He did try and get a hold of a bingo book to try and check what he knew against it, but no dice. Things like that were restricted – certainly a civilian kid like him wasn't going to get one easily even if one of his parents was a ninja.

The question then became, what to do with his life? Did he even want to be a ninja? Regardless of when he was, or what might be going on in the world, was that the life he wanted for himself? Being a ninja of Yugakure was a pretty sweet deal for him in a lot of ways – it wasn't as morally difficult for him than villages that weren't pacifists or were more volatile. He wouldn't have to worry about becoming an assassin or killing his fellow students to graduate or anything – he'd more likely just be a ninja guard. That was what his father said most of his missions were.

Of course escort duty still meant killing bandits if necessary, but it was a lot less difficult to reconcile than just being a murderer for hire. Still, even from a 'soft' village like Yu, being a ninja would be hard work, painful and with no guarantee that he'd survive or thrive.

The alternative was not to be a shinobi, which meant being a civilian. There were plenty of jobs to do, though they came with pros and cons. He wouldn't be able to travel safely as a civilian – it was just as risky really, because of bandits. So if he prioritised safety he'd have to stay in-village, perhaps make crafts like his mother or work in the hot springs or hotels that populated the resort town.

He wasn't sure he could accept that life.

In his last life he'd kept it simple. Finished school, gotten a job wherever would take him. He spent years working in retail (ugh) and then moved into catering. It paid the bills but was hardly fulfilling – he'd kept his head down, made the safe choices, and ended up with cancer at 24 and dying in hospital. He'd thought all those years 'I'll play it safe, build up to it. I'll go travelling when my situation is more stable'.

He never got to travel. All that money he'd been saving for the future ended up lining someone else's pockets at the end of the day, because he'd been too cautious to enjoy it himself.

This time he wasn't going to do that. By no means did he plan to be reckless, but he didn't want to watch life pass him by without getting to experience any of the good bits of it, not this time.

So maybe he would become a ninja then. A Yugakure ninja that took protection missions and escort missions, maybe something further afield if he went diplomatic. It might be more dangerous than he'd want, but in this world he was just as likely to be a casualty as a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time than as a ninja actively getting in the way of trouble.

That wasn't necessarily a reassuring thought, but it kind of helped, to know that he wouldn't be helpless this time. Hiseo was going to be a ninja.

Well, he was going to try to be a ninja. He had no idea if he could actually become one – he didn't know what the graduation requirements were or if he could use chakra. Not to mention whether he could actually stomach the reality of it – Hiseo hadn't gotten into a proper fight in his life, new or old, so for all he knew he'd lock up when put on the spot.

That was a tomorrow problem though, for today he had his decision tentatively made, and with that in mind sought to give himself the best chance he could. He'd started attending the academy recently and it was there that he focused his efforts.

During outdoor time at school he made sure to learn the stretches and do his best with running the way the teacher showed them. What little he remembered of actual ninja skills involved economy of movement, pushing past limits to encourage growth. He was too young to risk overdoing it, but under the teacher's watchful eyes, he felt safe enough.

It was fucking hard though.

Getting up the determination to really run was easy, but when his lungs were burning and his muscles felt like they were cramping in his legs, it was really hard to keep going. He felt like he was going to be sick and die, possibly simultaneously, and it was only because he'd actually gotten sick and died in the past that he knew that wasn't actually going to happen. (If he stopped, if he collapsed on the ground and couldn't move, that was what it felt when he really was dying, so he never did that no matter how much his body wanted him to, he always slowed to a walk and kept moving, always moving so he knew he wasn't going to die)

Aside from increasing his body's endurance though, there wasn't a whole lot he could do just yet.

Being a ninja in Yugakure was definitely different than in Konoha. For one the classes were much smaller – there wasn't much need for ninja in a village like this where it was so heavily pacifistic so it was less popular among the masses. Unlike in other villages where it was an honour to be a ninja in service to the village, here it was a just barely acceptable job to some people, but a necessary one, for most. That was the attitude he encountered early on: 'someone had to do it'.

The students also varied in age, offering classes for different skills and specialties, but also opening up the academy to younger students and giving them something of a pre-ninja education in things like observing others, reading and writing, and how to travel safely. Not everyone who went to the academy was going to be a ninja, but everyone who wanted to be a ninja went to the academy. There was also a regular school for kids, which students could switch onto once they were old enough, but it was still considered worthwhile to send younger children to the ninja pre-academy for basic skills that would be useful no matter what they did.

Because it was mostly bodyguarding though, the focus of their ninja studies delved extensively on protection and recognising trouble before it broke out. It wasn't uncommon for the small classes to be taken out for brief trips into the village for training and tests, where ninja on duty would give the children something to practice on, using henges and genjutsu to safely show them what to look for and expect without anything bad actually happening.

Hiseo didn't do too badly in classes, but he didn't tend to excel either. He had the benefit of some remembered experience, but found it difficult to apply what he knew in practice. He enjoyed learning though, even though he preferred watching to doing. Learning to skin a rabbit had been hard, even though it had already been dead when he got it, that'd been unpleasant.

He'd also been pretty bad at making a fire, though he could make the fire pit just fine, getting a spark and letting it catch had been nigh impossible for him. He'd just have to hope he could do a fire release when they started teaching about chakra, but as a kid in the pre-class, it was basics all the way, no proper ninja stuff at all, if you discounted the flexibility and stamina exercises they did during outdoor time.

Going to classes meant he spent less time at home with his mother, but he actually spent more time with his father now than they had before. Partly because he didn't sleep quite as much as much as he used to now he was a bit older, to be fair, but also because he spent more time doing activities from his classes. He still helped his mother sometimes, but less often now that he didn't need quite so much close attention, and his help was actually somewhat helpful now, rather than just something he could fiddle with within his mother's eyesight.

It saddened him a bit, that he was already starting to feel the distance from his mother just because he no longer spent all his time with her, but that was a sacrifice he felt helpless to avoid. If he wanted to become stronger, he couldn't spend all his time playing with her either. He still took the time to be close to her, but not nearly as much as before. She'd been good to him, still was, but growing up was always going to mean moving away from what they'd had before. He couldn't spend all his time playing under her watchful eye, no matter the future he intended for himself.

One thing that was distinctive about Yugakure was that because it relied almost exclusively on tourism for is economy, the importance of appearance was paramount. It was for that reason that academy students didn't even touch weapons until they were eight years old, and even then it was during class time only, using unpainted wooden weapons at first. It presented a bad image of the pacifist village if their children were visibly carrying weapons, ninja students or not, so they weren't allowed to for some time.

Of course their taijutsu skills were impressive as something to work on that wasn't visible to tourists, but weapons were another matter. That was how he found himself taking hold of the wooden kunai for the first time, as they were taught how to handle them.

They were shown how to hold and store them first – it was important to learn how to handle them safely, so for the first day they were shown how, and then told to wear them without them being visible. When his teacher had talked about it, it'd made sense – he'd never seen his father's weapons, not once. Even active duty ninja were pretty subtle – it was all about appearance, his teacher told them.

So he wore his wooden kunai, trying to find a spot to put them where they were hard to spot but still accessible. Every now and then the teacher would stop the lesson to have them take one out like they were about to throw it, then put it away again. At the end of the school day the pouches were taken away to be returned to the student in the morning.

The pattern continued for two days, but the morning of the third day their weapons were no longer unpainted.

Instead the edges of the 'blade' were coated in a bright paint. When they were told to draw their kunai during class time now, any who held the blade incorrectly got paint on their hands to signify a cut.

It was ingenious, and saved many students from getting injured. No doubt they'd move on to live weapons eventually, but for kids just starting out, he was surprised – pain built up strength he knew, but teaching safe handling in a harmless way seemed something a ninja village wouldn't bother with. Yu really was a pacifist town.

It certainly made it easier for him though – he was able to become familiar with a 'weapon' without the threat of being harmed by it, especially when they were all still small and naturally a little clumsy. When they finally did graduate to live weaponry (again, during class time only, no kids were allowed weapons outside unless they could hide them completely he supposed) he already had proper handling habits in place. It was nerve-wracking holding a dangerous weapon, even though it wasn't that sharp at first, but the habits he'd formed with the practice tools meant his body already knew what to do, even while his mind panicked about the danger.

It was interesting to experience, almost tricking the mind in a way. He soon calmed down from holding a live weapon because he was so used to the wooden ones and knew how to avoid hurting himself.

Not all he students did so well of course, some hadn't practiced enough with the wooden ones or taken it seriously enough, but the number of cut fingers and hands was far less than one would expect in a class full of kids with knives.

By the time he was nine years old, his class had merged with several others, and the kids not interested in being ninja had either dropped out or continued into the regular school, or dropped out to work.

Unlike before where there were a variety of separate classes with students on different tracks (ninja, and non-ninja) now only ninja students remained, and it was here that more practical ninja skills were developed. Before they had shared classes for history, geography, propaganda and the like, along with doing some meditation and exercise. Now the meditation class was cut in half with chakra control, and phys ed became sparring as well. They also were finally taught how to throw their kunai, not just defend with them and hide/handle them, along with other inconspicuous weapons.

Hiseo wasn't great at sparring. He could do the moves easily enough, but punching another little kid in the face was hard. He won a lot, but did so without causing much damage. It made it harder to fight, and more often felt like he was trying to capture instead of defeat his opponent as instructed. His teachers saw this, but despite one discussion on it didn't try to dissuade him. What he was doing was harder, but as long as he understood that he was handicapping himself, it was actually to his benefit to continue as he was.

So instead of breaking noses and throat-punching like he knew was most effective, he'd enact complex takedowns that pinned his opponent to the dirt, often without hurting them at all, merely immobilising.

Of course he didn't always win. One girl early on had gotten offended that he wouldn't 'take her seriously' and had broken his nose pretty badly, but before long it just became normal. The class soon accepted that Hiseo didn't disable his enemies the easy way, and the teachers let him so it was fine. It was only in rare instances where the class was instructed to use a certain attack or method that he had to fight like he wanted to cause harm instead of to disable without force.

He honestly wasn't sure whether he'd ever be comfortable using moves that were intended to be fatal. It was one thing abstaining against other small children, but using non-lethal moves wasn't always going to be possible, and there was no guarantee that the problem he had was only because of his small opponents. If he was facing a bandit, he might have no choice but to kill them, in combat or afterwards.

Still, for now it wasn't a problem. While he did receive some questions about how he came up with some of the moves (some he learned from his father, some he remembered from before and tried them out for himself) as long as he learned the academy teachings it didn't matter what else he threw in.

One thing that he did learn in his classes was some recent history. It was mostly focused on his own village of course, even in world events it was mostly aimed at how it affected the land of hot water. Interesting, but not necessarily useful to him or his aim to prove the relevance of his knowledge of this world. He learned that the major villages had several great wars in recent history, always seeming at war with each other really. The smaller villages were usually left out of it, overlooked for the most part, only sometimes used as battlegrounds.

Most of the minor villages were left to their own devices while the major villages destroyed themselves and each other. As long as a minor village didn't try and step on any toes and kept to themselves they were mostly fine – basically if they accepted that the major villages could do what they wanted then they wouldn't draw the ire of that major village. It did put them in a tough spot sometimes because they were pacifists here, and it was a tourist hot spot so keeping it clean and safe was important, but they definitely didn't want to get squashed by a big village if they tried to stop or interfere with their business, even if it meant letting an assassination happen on their territory.

For the most part though, ninja observed a certain courtesy for things like that – it was the same for all ninja villages big and small – if possible, keep things like fights and assassinations quiet, or out of the village proper. It was as much courtesy as good planning – targets were more vulnerable in transit and less chance of them slipping away in a crowd.

They were taught the procedure for if combat was encountered in the land of hot water, how to check someone's passport or travel documents if they seemed suspicious or were found somewhere they shouldn't be, though as a tourist spot there weren't many restricted places in the village, just the academy and a few buildings used for ninja business like the jail and offices.

He was ten before they learned about the information network.

The land of hot water was pacifist, and they had a decent arrangement to keep their land rather than be taken over by a bigger village, despite the moderate strategic advantage that could be. Their land was fertile and the weather conditions were good, yet were allowed their own authority. That was in part because of the neutrality of their land – pacifist and neutral meant a great place for other countries to use as a relatively safe zone.

A lot of information was traded in Yu. Going to the hotsprings was a good excuse for anyone to come visit, not to mention the massage parlours and other tourist attractions. Land of hot springs was a good meeting spot, and because it wasn't very centralized (many resorts were built around different hot springs) ninja could come to any hot spring they wanted. Some villages had a 'preferred' resort, which made it easier to avoid hostilities. Indeed, if foreign ninja went to Yugakure, they were often recommended to different hot springs depending on their affiliation. It wasn't unusual if a foreign ninja came to Yugakure for business and were rewarded with a coupon for a hot spring, it'd be for a particular resort.

In some ways the whole village was split into zones, to keep different ninja away from each other and minimize chances of fighting breaking out. The zones weren't enforced, but ninja weren't fools – keeping to their zone meant they had less chance of seeing someone who might provoke them, especially the major villages which always seemed to want to fight each other even when there was no active war.

That wasn't even mentioning the missing nin.

Either way, if the ninja didn't see something they had to act on like someone from another village or a missing nin, all the better. For the most part people came to Yugakure for the hot springs and/or for information, not to fight. Hiseo was taught to suppress any fighting that might break out in the land of hot springs because if the land became known as too rowdy or dangerous they would lose the tourism that kept the country running. The main export (aside from information which didn't count) that their country survived on aside from tourism was potato exports and that wasn't near enough to carry them if anything happened to their tourism industry.

For all that, it meant that Hiseo's non-lethal takedown practice was doing him a lot of favours. If he kept it up, he'd almost have a guaranteed spot working in Yugakure proper, he was told. After all, it was better for business if foreign ninja could be detained without harm if a fight broke out.

It wasn't really his intention to stay in the village full time, but it was good to know that he could if it turned out that the danger of the road was too much for him. Not to mention the discomfort – there was much to be said about having a warm bed to return to each night and proper washing facilities – neither of which could be found on the road.

If there was one thing he had learned so far it was that while he might think something was fine in theory, actually doing it was another matter. He couldn't say whether he'd actually settle with having to catch his own food and wash in rivers if he did choose a role which had him predominantly travelling.

Those were thoughts for Hiseo of the future though, for now he had much more immediate decisions to make, like who he wanted to pair up with for practicals today, which was tea ceremony.

Hiseo liked going to the academy. Most of the skills were useful or gave him some insight into something. Because the class sizes were small and the ninja were mostly stationed in the land of hot water it meant that they were often roped into teaching a class or two, so students were exposed to more variety. It also meant they were given 'taster' sessions, depending on a shinobi's specialty.

Hiseo learned that he was interested in poisons and the like but not in crafting them himself. Unsurprising given his preference for non-lethal takedowns, he wasn't very good with wounds – mostly because he hadn't the stomach for the gore. Basic first aid was something he could do at least.

They were also introduced to different weapons (wooden or otherwise blunted first, mostly) that they were able to try them out and gain some familiarity at least. Hiseo found he rather enjoyed a polearm, though it was not a weapon that was popular in general especially in Yugakure where less visible weapons were preferred for ninja unless they were patrolmen or the like. He liked having a long shaft that he could use like a bo staff, but a sharper end for some distance in his attack.

He enjoyed nunchakus too, though wasn't very good at using the flexible chain. He did wonder if he could learn some kind of chain weapon though, if he really did want non-lethal takedowns, it'd help to have a weapon to tie up his opponents. If only he had the coordination to use them, anyway.

For now it didn't matter – these were just taster sessions so students could have some awareness of what was out there and some exposure to it. There were lots of lessons about how to make and get out of different knots though, and he was pretty good at those.

Simpler lessons included learning how to leave and read subtle and hidden messages, and lip reading. Overhearing messages meant for others was how they got much of the information for their network, which meant learning many of the ways messages could be left.

They were also taught how to move and hide their basic weapons in kimono and other outfits, along with basic customer service, in case they were to be concealed as resort staff while on duty, as was often the case. Somewhat awkwardly they were also shown how to conceal weapons while attending as resort guests also, including wearing just a towel and hiding a few weapons beneath it.

There just seemed so much to learn. He'd thought that most of what he'd learn would be jutsu, from what he knew of the anime, but clearly not. So far they'd not actually learned a jutsu, only chakra control exercises. It was still amazing to be able to feel the energy moving through his body, to try and manipulate it to give the desired effects. So far they were only really sticking leaves onto their hands like he expected, but even so. At least when they eventually learned water walking, they'd be doing it over the hot springs – far less miserable than doing it over a cold pond or the ocean.

Graduating the shinobi academy occurred at age thirteen – the oldest that he knew of. Early graduation was possible, but a student still had to show they had learned the lessons they would be missing through their own efforts – no skipping ahead because they were good at one thing or another, a wide knowledge base ensured a more well prepared shinobi, no matter their combat skill or other circumstances.

Technically most students could graduate at twelve – the last year involved mostly field work, like a work experience, with a few lessons interspersed at the academy (like sex ed and how puberty affected them as ninja). A student could skip it, but it wasn't recommended – even if they spent the year skipping between different roles, or didn't pick any of the jobs they'd worked in that year, it gave them the experience of how the village and that particular role worked, and ensured that the bulk of the teaching was passed onto proficient teachers, rather than working ninja who might be good at their jobs, but not so good at teaching younger children how to follow in their footsteps.

All in all it was a smart system and Hiseo enjoyed it. Was enjoying it rather – he still had a few years to go until he graduated as a Yugakure shinobi.

Not, it turned out, that he ever would.

Note: So I've had to do a lot of worldbuilding here – information on the land of hot water is SCARCE! Some of it may not be correct, but tbh this is going to be AU anyway (isn't all fanfiction, in the end?) but yeh. Tryin my best!


	3. Chapter 3

Life in Yugakure was comfortable.

He hadn't had a choice in where he was born, but if he could he'd pick here. The village was nice and calm and you could always hear laughter coming from somewhere. There were always new people to see and something new to learn. Of course going to the hot springs, something he'd done for the first time when he was five, was also something he enjoyed.

He would have thought he'd be reborn in Konoha, if he was going to start anywhere in the elemental nations. While he lacked in interpersonal relations in Yugakure, he was rather glad for the calm life he'd gotten to live here, free of the constant extremes Konoha always seemed to suffer. Yugakure wasn't a village of strong personalities like Konoha.

It wasn't like his classmates were all cardboard cutouts, but... they kind of were? It was certainly less stressful than he remembered of the clips of Naruto and Sasuke in Konoha's academy, and the eccentricities of the adult shinobi.

Here in Yu, appearances were important. It sometimes felt a bit false, like everyone was constantly pasting on their best customer service face, but it was a tourist destination and the way of life. If there were any traumatised shinobi like Kakashi, or just overblown ones like Gai, they must be sent out of the village proper to run patrols and the like, because he'd never seen a Yugakure shinobi like them.

The appearance of everything being pleasant and relaxing was visible in all the village's residents. It shone through in the way their sensei taught them, an attitude that was encouraged.

Hiseo had found it surprisingly easy to adopt the shared 'at ease' attitude, almost like a Yugakure accent. He would have thought that given his history – his life before all this – that he'd be high strung but it was the opposite really. In a way, having lived and died and lived again had taken away much of the fear he might have otherwise felt.

Perhaps he'd also learned a lesson which softened so much of his fear too: it always ended. By the end of his last life death had been a relief for him. Freedom from the pain of the cancer and its treatments. It would have been easy to fear pain more because he knew how bad it could get, but instead what he'd taken away was something entirely different, something that comforted him and allowed him to push through any pain he experienced now.

The pain always ended.

And death hadn't been so bad. Just a cessation pain really, of all of it.

So being at ease wasn't difficult for him at all. There was no point getting worked up about things outside of his control and quite frankly there were always going to be dangers out there, casting a dark shadow.

But fear for the future didn't stop anyone else from living their lives and it wasn't about to stop him either. Knowing that in his life time he was almost guaranteed to experience one war or another, given his knowledge of Naruto history if it did turn out to be accurate. He might not even live that long, perhaps killed by bandits on the road, but so what? Everyone lived despite their fear of death, and death wasn't as bad as he'd thought it was.

So Hiseo plodded on with his life, learning skills and keeping his eyes open for hints that might help him gauge what was going on in the land he lived in and the lands surrounding it. His main concerns were Hidan, major wars, and the creation of the Sound village headed by Orochimaru, mostly because lack of fear of death or not, he really didn't want to suffer as a science experiment for however long he might be kept alive if he fell into those merciless hands.

At present though, none of those threats were present or even close by – he'd not seen any hints of anything to worry about, not that lack of evidence meant that they weren't present. He had no idea when Hidan fit into the timeline, if he was even born yet, only that eventually he would attack Yugakure and leave.

He did fear what might happen to him if what he knew was revealed, but so far that was a non-issue. Not even his parents suspected that he had knowledge that didn't belong to him.

It was an odd distinction he'd made a long time ago now, something which had helped him recognise who he was as Hiseo.

Hiseo didn't feel like a fraud. He didn't feel Dan, who died of cancer, getting a second chance at life. He felt like Hiseo, who had memories of a life which came before. It was a small and seemingly insignificant distinction, who he identified as, but it made a difference between feeling like a foreigner trying to pretend his way through a second chance, instead as a Yugakure native who had memories of something before.

He'd never told anyone what he knew, not that he really had anyone to tell. He got on well enough with his classmates, but it wasn't as though he'd invite anyone to hang out with him at home – he wasn't close with anyone. His parents had always accepted him as he was, and eccentric-unwelcome or not, kids were diverse enough that his quirks hadn't been seen as anything to worry about. His odd development had just been seen as a partial prodigy – he had struggled with language but seemed to understand complex concepts and the like once he knew the words.

Otherwise Hiseo had just been a normal, quiet kid who never seemed to get worked up. He might cry if he got hurt in combat classes but never seemed to make a big deal of it like most other kids did, just carried on with tears on his face.

His teachers liked him well enough judging by his report card and their interactions with him – he was an easy student to have. Diligent, unobtrusive. A few had flagged him for being great at undercover work if he was interested, because of how easy he was to overlook – teachers could leave him to his own devices knowing they didn't have to worry about him, and realise they'd gone through the whole day without looking at him once because he rarely drew attention to himself and rarely needed extra help.

You'd have thought a boy with dark blue hair and eyes would stand out more, but his colours were just muted enough not to stand out. He usually kept his hair in a low ponytail hanging over one shoulder, just like his mother, and his skin tone was lightly tanned – not as much as his father, but not near as pale as his mother either.

All in all he didn't really stand out, which meant that his teachers noticed him but the other students didn't. It helped that he was eager to learn but not to show off and unlike his peers he spent much of his personal time investing in his future instead of playing childish games.

The academy was a great way to connect students with teachers in different fields, and there were just so many different fields! Rather than try and cram it all into his last year, Hiseo had eagerly sought to get a jump start where he could.

Unfortunately that had meant that he'd gotten stuck helping his academy teachers at first, carrying tools for classes the next day and marking test papers for the younger years. It turned out to be fairly interesting seeing the other side of things so it wasn't a wasted venture, but while seeing the psychology behind certain decisions, not to mention the small jutsu that got used (to prevent cheating, monitor a room and so on) were interesting, he had no interest in teaching children himself.

He wasn't about to get taken out on patrol or anything at his age, but his efforts were rewarded with some training sessions from different teachers who held in-village jobs. It meant he spent one of his free days working in a florist, and another shadowing a guard who worked in the jail. Another afternoon he intensely regretted his decision as a paper-pusher in the mission office desk. He'd already spent one life wasting away in the back rooms, spending all day in the same eight square feet, he wasn't about to do that again.

Three weeks later he was learning from one of the in-village shinobi who kept the peace in the onsen.

Unlike his other roles, this one required him to adjust his appearance so he would not stand out, which meant wearing kimono. Hiseo would never have thought that he'd be comfortable wearing kimono. It wasn't as restrictive as he feared though, actually was very comfortable. It could be because they were battle kimono rather than the more traditional style. Shorter at the front, easy to move in. Easier to hide weapons in too, which is why it was a style that young ninja were encouraged to use.

It certainly made him blend in even more, made him feel a bit more at home too. He decided to adopt it more regularly in his closet rather than stick with shirts and shorts as he had before. Having so much fabric around his legs, even though it was lesser than a regular kimono for a battle kimono like his, was still odd though. He debated the merits of keeping a full kimono versus just a kimono top, whether the tradeoff was worth it. He did like the idea of having fabric to use if needed, but didn't want to trip on it either.

It led Hiseo to wondering whether there was any way to control the fabric so it didn't trip him. He tried sending chakra through a strip of cloth at first and very nearly incinerated it. Clearly, this wasn't going to be something he managed right away.

For all that he'd practiced and learned, using chakra was probably always going to be a little bit odd to him. He could use it – they had the leaf exercise just like Konoha, though they'd be moving to water walking soon – it was more advanced for pre-genin but a requirement to pass the genin test because of the nature of their work (they had to be able to intervene in the hot springs if anything happened, and many were large enough that they'd be no use if they couldn't walk on water).

He didn't mind the limitation personally, it made sense to ensure that the village's shinobi were qualified to do their jobs, and protecting the village (and its hot springs) was pretty much the basic tenet. There had even been a segment in class about the protection of the springs and the ways that people had tried to destroy them in the past (one enemy nin had used acid and it had gone horribly terribly wrong, but it didn't stop people from trying the same thing sometimes even though everyone involved the first time had died awfully).

Now ten years old, his ninja studies were focusing more on practical skills instead of book learning. He wasn't free of classrooms entirely of course, but lessons had shifted from predominately classroom based, perhaps 80-90% so, to practicals taking the lead at 60-70%.

He finally learned how to use chakra to do more than stick things to his hands (and face, and feet, and anywhere else they were told to stick leaves to for however long). Nothing dramatic at first – they were taught the campfire jutsu. A simple spark-making technique, it was simple enough for even water-natured ninja to learn. They also learned a camouflage jutsu to help them blend in (and spy), along with the henge.

Hiseo struggled to wrap his head around how jutsu worked, but that didn't actually stop him from learning how to do it. While the mechanics of it still seemed ludicrous (he basically imagined coating himself in chakra in order to manage the henge & camouflage jutsus) he had no trouble using the techniques. If anything it was surprisingly easy – easy to move the chakra rather, not necessarily to get the result he wanted.

Using henge, he was only half-aware of the actual result of it; could feel himself holding the chakra in place. Unfortunately, while the coating of chakra over his body to change its appearance was successful, it was much more difficult to imprint detail onto the blank canvas he'd painted over himself. To that end, his henge tended to have very blank faces, if they had facial details at all, and lacked nearly any real detail like freckles or blemishes. It was easier to make a copy of someone else, but he had a habit of only filling in the detail of their faces from the front – looking at the henge from an angle, especially behind, left it blank or strange. It wasn't like he was able to see his own henge either, so had no idea what it looked like when he used it. The was a way of being able to tell from the chakra he was coating himself in, but Hiseo certainly couldn't seem to do that.

On the other hand, camouflage was much easier, blending in to what was already around him rather than trying to draw a new self over his own.

Hiseo actually found using chakra to be quite easy – he had worried that he'd not be able to use it at all but clearly that wasn't the case. His problem was that he couldn't seem to gauge his use of chakra – sending it out was easy, but knowing how much to use was harder without practice. He wasn't sure how people seemed to be able to tell how much chakra to use – it wasn't that he had too much chakra like Naruto, or two little control, also like Naruto. Hiseo could adjust how much he sent easily enough, he just didn't know how to tell how much he needed to use without obvious visible results.

For the basic techniques he was learning at least, it seemed to be him controlling how much chakra he used. The techniques didn't drain him – like casting spells in an rpg. He had to figure out how much to use himself, not just rely on 'casting' the 'spell' and it taking what it needed.

Most techniques didn't give much feedback to gauge results with, at least with the techniques he was learning. If his leaf wasn't on fire and it did stick, the amount of chakra that it could take varied, so it was hard to be 'precise'. Things like the henge were harder, because he could move the chakra over his body, but couldn't tell what it looked like without a mirror to see himself from all sides. He wasn't sure if he just needed a stronger image to imagine over him or if everyone else could tell from their chakra what their jutsu showed. His henge looked like a doll when he disguised himself as a person, the skin too smooth. It wasn't as obvious if he henged into a potted plant at least, which was meant to be harder.

Once he started getting used to using his chakra, it seemed natural to just emit it now and then, sending it into the air around him, or whatever he was holding or touching. Of course that got him in trouble sometimes since chakra could damage things that weren't meant to conduct the energy, not to mention making him something of a beacon in class when he did it.

He took to trying to limit his chakra to his clothing instead – once he'd bought some appropriate clothing to do so anyway. (The first time he'd started doing it habitually he'd been uncomfortably surprised when his clothes started falling off him, deteriorated by his chakra repeatedly imbued into the threads. His new clothing was much more durable.)

It wasn't like he could feel his chakra when he sent it out – he wasn't a sensor (rather the opposite if anything, to his chagrin) but he liked being able to control things around him, and spreading his chakra through it allowed him to do so.

His father thought it was hilarious, when he started doing it.

"Chakra has its own signature, something unique to each of us." He said. "So when I step into the house and can feel your chakra flaring all over the place, it feels kind of like having a pet that's marking its territory." He'd guffawed, laughing louder at Hiseo's slight flush.

While he didn't want to come across like a poorly trained house cat, he still couldn't help but spread his chakra around to have some control of his environment. He at least was getting better at concealing it, as well as in gauging how much he needed to use.

"Being able to easily thread or coat things with your chakra is a useful skill though." His father, Hayato, mused once he'd settled down. "If you have a good amount of chakra you could potentially use ninjutsu like 'hiding in the steam' or some equivalent. You can also use it for marking a path – leaving a trail for others to track you." Of course that could let enemies track him too, so he had to be careful about it.

It wasn't often that his father took the time to teach him new things, rather than just help him with whatever the academy was teaching him, so it was nice to have some guidance in how he could develop.

Not all his lessons were quite so pleasant however.

One of the hardest lessons Hiseo endured was a lesson on difficult customers. Hardly what you'd think of as a 'difficult lesson for shinobi' but it had been harder than the first time he had to catch and kill a bunny by far. It was held by a teacher who openly scorned them, disparaged them at every turn. Four of Hiseo's classmates broke down in tears in the first five minutes – before the teacher had even properly begun the exercise.

It was obvious to Hiseo that the exercise began the moment the sensei entered the classroom. That didn't make it any easier to endure the slurs or casual cruelty. They were ninja, but also children, and as much as they needed to learn how to maintain the polite façade in the face of such words, that was easier said than done. Even Hiseo struggled, and very little got to him.

The second day, when the class resumed but with the focus of dealing with difficult coworkers, Hiseo just walked out.

He could deal with shitty customers if he had to, but he'd struggled with cruelty coming from people he was meant to trust or work with in his last life. His solution? To not trust or work with them. His teacher, when he was confronted about it later, acknowledged it as a sound strategy but not always a viable one. Hiseo was adamant though – he wasn't going to tolerate being treated that way and expected to continue working with those people. Perhaps it was weak of him, but while he was laid back and unbothered now, he hadn't always been so and he knew the fast track to self harm was to be surrounded by people who treated you poorly. He wasn't going to risk being put in that position again.

He did get some flack for it from the other students, mostly because of his rep of being unflappable – they questioned whether it was a façade - his cool demeanor. It wasn't like he cared for their opinion though. They may eventually be his comrades, but none of them were really his friend and he could get by with that. As long as they didn't try and make trouble for him he didn't care.

Hiseo was something of a loner, though he worked fine with others when he had to he was more of a teacher's pet if anything.

He mostly just wanted to learn, and while he did miss out on friendship with his peers he wasn't unhappy with his life. Learning to be a ninja was fascinating. Watching Naruto had shown him only a small part of what that meant – mostly the 'massive attacks' aspect of it in truth, but there was so much more to it than that. It was like Kakashi had said: "Look underneath the underneath." He finally had some understanding of what that meant.

Being taught rather than being expected to just magically know helped though *cough* Kakashi *cough*.

Regardless of his doubts of Konoha's sensei, Hiseo was definitely thriving under Yugakure's.

It helped that he was motivated and the memories he held from his previous life gave him a maturity he likely otherwise wouldn't. Knowing that, regardless of where he was in the timeline, the future he knew of held a great deal of danger. As much as he enjoyed his peaceful life in Hot Springs, he doubted it'd last forever.

Despite his best efforts, Hiseo hadn't been able to gather much information to verify the knowledge he held. Only the broad strokes of history were shared in class so far, not the small details which much of his knowledge hinged upon and especially not for other villages. Hidden villages did keep secrets and despite its information trade it didn't share all its information with its ninja, so he couldn't gauge it based on solid information. He learned a lot about the history of Yugakure, but that didn't help him figure out where the timeline was because almost all of his knowledge was about Konoha, especially during Naruto's genin timeline.

He did know Konoha had suffered some severe strife a few years back, but whether that was the Kyuubi seal breaking, one war or another, or an invasion he couldn't confirm. It didn't really narrow it down. The last great war was over around the time of his birth, but Hiseo couldn't remember enough details about it to know which one it was, or how many wars there were in Naruto in the first place. It wasn't like he'd read up on the Naruto-verse history before he got here, unfortunately.

It wouldn't be for another year that Hiseo would learn where in the timeline he was. As their history classes continued he discovered that there had already been several shinobi wars, so he was further along the timeline than he'd thought or hoped. He wished his own memory was better however because he couldn't remember how many wars there had been in Naruto. The classes only skimmed most of it because it was no longer relevant – not to mention a good chunk of the information was suppressed to keep secrets, so they didn't necessarily know the names of key players which would allow him to pin it down.

It was frustrating having the information so close but just out of reach. He could probably find out more if he dug deeper, but it wasn't just having the information that mattered, it was being able to recognise the relevance of it. He'd looked in the past for information about Konoha but much of it came down to vague information that didn't make much sense without context. Like, the sannin existed, but Hiseo couldn't remember when that happened, or when they fell apart, and that wasn't the sort of information that Konoha would want spread around so it might have already happened and was kept quiet. At least it gave him a vague awareness of when he was, that the sannin were around.

So for the most part Hiseo focused on things he could work on instead of figuring out where he was in a timeline that may or may not be accurate anyway. He wanted to learn everything; how to cook traditional food from his parents, how to pass information in secret, or notice someone else trying to do the same. In the introductory class on elemental jutsu Hiseo learned that he was primarily water natured (not uncommon in Yu), but found wind transformation second easiest.

The students were only taught the very basics of elemental jutsu, just their existence and one extremely basic jutsu for each type. The spark-making jutsu for fire they already covered, a tiny breeze making jutsu (for blowing out candles and passing notes), the lightning spark which just felt like a bee sting, and a water jutsu that dispersed steam from the air. They weren't required to be able to perform all of them, but at least to try.

He even continued to work on making his compulsion to push out chakra into something useful – his parents started to buy him high quality clothing that could handle chakra so he could begin learning to use it more practically.

The first time he used his trailing kimono sleeves to wrap around a combatant's wrists during a spar while he punched the kid in the face, it gained him a few interested looks for sure.

This idyllic life was never going to last forever though, and one day it all came crashing down. It was a morning like any other and Hiseo was just on his way to the academy when the sound of screaming and raucous laughter broke out nearby.

That answered that question then, about where in the timeline he was. Looked like Hidan was going to start his slaughter right about now.

Shit.

Notes: So I'm not sure how I've gotten this far in with basically no actual conversation happening. My writing style is really awkward sometimes, exposition heavy, and actual talking just isn't really happening for me _ Sorry. Will keep trying. This just seems to be how I write now?


End file.
